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Author's profile photo Arpitha Gupta P V

SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central Service Center Implementation Sequence

Greetings

 

This post contains steps to implement SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central Service Center feature.

 

What is Employee Central Service Center?

Employee Central Service Center is a support solution that provides an interface between employees and the HR within the organization.

For Employees, It provides a faster way to get answers for all the queries for all the HR-related questions. For HR Team, they have consolidated solutions for providing answers to all the employees questions.

 

How does it work?

Employees can have access to a search, customize, context-sensitive knowledge base to get answers to their questions. If they can’t find the answer in the knowledge base, they can contact their HR service center directly by creating a ticket, over a phone, or sending an email.

 

Prerequisites

  • SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central instance.
  • SAP Cloud for Customer tenants
  • SAP Cloud Platform account
  • SAP Cloud Platform Integration account

Service Center Architecture Overview

 

 

Below are the steps to be followed to configure this feature.

Integrating SAP SuccessFactors and SAP Cloud Portal for ASK HR application  

Step 1 : Configuring SuccessFactors Extensions

 

Generating Integration Token

Automated creation of the extension account by using the Integration Token generated from the HCP Account

Generate the Integration Token in the HCP Customer Account -> Integration Tokens -> New SAP SuccessFactors Token

A pop-up appears , Choose “Use SAP SuccessFactors Identity provider” and a warning message appears click on “Yes”.

Integration Token gets generated as shown below

 

 

Step 2: Extension Configuration using Integration Token

 

Place the token in Provisioning at Extension Package Configuration and Save the settings

Login to provisioning -> Extension package configuration -> Add token -> Click on Add button

Note :

After b1908 release, Once the Integration Token is executed in Extension Configuration it auto-enables “Enable Custom Execution Module Integration” from SF provisioning.

 

Step 3: Verifying Web Services Permissions

 

SF Provisioning -> Company settings -> Web Services, Enable the 3 highlighted permissions

Note :

After b1908 release, Once the Integration Token is executed in Extension Configuration it auto fills the URL for Authorized SP Assertion Consumer Service Settings in SF Provisioning.

 

Step 4 : Extension Permission

 

Login to SF instance account and search for Manage Permissions Groups

Add the required members searching by username and click done. So now the added members will be the administrators for customer extension module (Extensions admin)

Go to Manage Permissions Roles assigned to ECSC Admin and enable the below permissions

Extension Directory

You will be able to access Extension Directory via people search, as you need to type Extensions as shown below

You need to click on link for accessing Extension Directory

 

Step 5: Enable RBP permission for Admin and Employee Roles in SuccessFactors for ECSC Admin 

 

Enable the below-mentioned permission in Manage Permission Roles for Admin role

 

Enable the below mentioned permission in Manage Permission Roles for Employee Role

Step 6: Subscribe Ask HR HTML5 application and JAVAPROXY application

 

After you have established the generic extension between SCP Cloud Platform and your SAP SuccessFactors instance you need to enable the employee workspace application/ASK HR application on your onboarded SAP Cloud Platform extension sub-account.

Procedure

1.Create a ticket in the SAP Support portal ticket on component LOD-SF-EC-SRV as per details in KBA – 2591107 – How do I request Employee Central Service Center (ASK HR) Subscription

2.Our provider account contains 2 applications that are subscribed to your sub-account. One is the JAVAPROXY application that is required to ensure security compliance and the other is the Ask HR application which is the end-user interface. After you have been subscribed to the relevant applications, you can view the application in your extension sub-account.

Subscription Completed

 

Step 7:Activate EC Service Center/Ask HR application (via the Extension Manager)

 

Launch the Custom External Module on the Homepage -> Click on the Plus + icon to create an Extension -> Select SF Starter Extension template -> Create

Content Management -> Starter Page

Go to Apps -> Click on + icon -> You can create New App

New App gets creates as highlighted

Once New App is created you can select “askhr” from App Resource and enter the details accordingly.

Note :

  1. Ensure intent of ASK HR app is Home & show and catalog is added, before publishing.
  2. If you select the language ‘Arabic’, ensure that you have upgraded the SAPUI5 version to1.52.
  3. For other languages upgrade ASK HR to SAPUI5 1.71

 

Publish the page, Select the askhr app to navigate to the top right corner to push the Publish button.

Click on the “Publish and Open’ button

 

Step 7: Enable Service Center Add-On application on SF Homepage

 

SF Provisioning -> Company Settings -> Enable Service Center Add-on

Target URL is taken from the published AskHR template:

https://flpnwc-<Sub-account ID>.dispatcher.hana.ondemand.com/sites?siteId=00afe000-0000-0b00-0000-0cd0dfb000a0

Copy the URL and paste in provisioning

You will be able to see ASK HR hyperlink in the Homepage

 

Step 8:Configuring Destination in SCP

 

Go to destinations in your sub-account and click on import

Note :

– OpenSearch or Jam destination must be added only for the Knowledge Base feature.

– BizX_Odata, CloudForCustomer, and javaproxy are mandatory destinations.

 

Create destination: Bizx_Odata 

Note :

After b1908 release, Once the Integration Token is executed in Extension Configuration. Local Provider Name & Signing Certificate is auto integrated to Manage OAuth2 Client Applications in SF BizX instance.

Login to SF BizX instance Admin Center -> search as Manage OAuth2 Client Applications -> Copy the API key

After the registration, the API Key is available. Provide the needed information to finalize the destination:

Client Key: API Key copied from BizX OAuth Client

Assertion Issuer: API Key copied from BizX OAuth Client

 

Create destination: CloudForCustomer

Kindly add C4C URL

User: C4C username

Password: C4C account password

 

Create destination: OpenSearch

 

Create destination: javaproxy

The URL needs to be taken from the Application URL’s from the subscribed javaproxy application

This is how the screen looks once all 4 destinations are added

Navigate back in your Extension account to Applications -> Subscription -> Click on askhr

 

Verification:

 

Navigate to SF instance -> Access Home Page ASK HR link and a pop-up appears as per the below screenshots

You can search Knowledge Base here

Access list of tickets

You can maintain Contact HR details

You can create an incident from Employee View

 

 

Integrating SAP Cloud for Service for ASK HR application

 

Step 1:Creating an employee as Business User

 

Navigate to Administrator -> Employees

Step 2:Create a user to be configured in SPC

 

Navigate to Administration -> General Settings -> Business User

Log on as an Admin user and navigate to the ‘ADMINISTRATOR’ work center

Go to section Users and click on Business Users(before to this, you should create user ECSC Admin as an employee)

Choose the Business user and assign the corresponding HR Agent role to the user.

 

Work Center/View ID                               Work Center             View Name

BPM_EMPLOYEES                                  Administrator              Employees

SEOD_TICKETMD_SADL_WCVIEW      Service                        Tickets

CRM_SERVICECATEGORIES                Service Entitlements   Service Categories

 

Step 3:Scoping

 

Navigate to Business Configuration Work Center -> Select Implementation Projects -> Select First Implementations -> Select Edit Project Scope    (For Example : United States)

Under Scoping -> Select the below elements

Service -> Entitlement Management -> Service Level Agreements 
Service -> Employee Support -> Communication Channel – Portal

 

Step 4:Scope Service Level Agreement

 

Enable “You have common service level agreements” business option

Navigate to Business Configuration -> Select Implementation Projects -> Select First Implementations -> Select Edit Project Scope-> Select Activity list

 

Step 4:Document types

 

Under Document Types -> Select Maintain Document Types

The Document Types need to be configured like this:

 

Document type = ‘SRRE’ Employee Support Ticket

Process Variant = Employee Support

Status Schema = Employee Support

 

Step 5:Ticket Status Dictionary

 

Select Maintain Status Dictionary Entries

The Ticket status codes are hardcoded in the application, therefore the customizing in C4C requires a very specific configuration.

 

Step 6:Ticket Status Schemas

 

Select Maintain Status Schemas

Add the below-highlighted employee support schema

 

Step 7:Configure Attachment Types

 

Navigate to Business Configuration -> Implementation Projects -> Open Activity List -> Allowed MIME Types for Document Upload

Allowed MIME Types for Document Upload

Filter for MIME Type: text/html

Activate the Basic Settings – MIME Type Check Active

Uncheck the Allowed check box

Press Save and Close

 

Step 8:Configure the Service Catalog

 

Navigate to Administration ->Service and Social Settings -> Service Categories

Click on New -> Service Category Catalog -> Under Usage, Select the ticket type as “SRRE-Employee Support” -> Maintain the Service Categories -> Add Service Category, Cause category and Object Category

 

Step 9:Enabling Employee Support Work Center for your Agents

 

Navigate to Administration -> General Settings -> Business Roles

Create Business Role for HR Agents

Assign the Work center view ‘Employee Support’ to work center ‘Service’

Assign a Business role for HR Agents to a Business User

Log on as an Admin user and navigate to the ‘ADMINISTRATOR’ work center

Go to section Users and click on Business Users(before to this, you should create HR Agent as an employee)

Choose the Business user and assign the corresponding HR Agent role to the user.

 

-Work Center View ID: SEOD_EMPLOYEE_SUPPORT_WCVIEW

-Work Center View ID: SEOD_TICKETMD_SADL_WCVIEW

-Work Center View ID: COD_EMPLOYEES

How to Create tickets using ASK HR app in SuccessFactors?

 

Login as Employee -> Click on ASK HR hyperlink in homepage -> Click on Create Ticket as below & Save

 

Employee view of the ticket once it’s submitted in SuccessFactors

 

Agent View in C4C after employee submitting the ticket in SF

 

 

Regards,

Arpitha

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      57 Comments
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      Author's profile photo Faisal Iqbal
      Faisal Iqbal

      ARPITHA GUPTA P V  thanks for the step-by-step and detailed guide?

      Author's profile photo Arpitha Gupta P V
      Arpitha Gupta P V
      Blog Post Author

      Thanks Faisal Iqbal

      Author's profile photo Partha Chinta
      Partha Chinta

      Nice Blog Thanks Arpitha for providing step by step process of Service center

      Author's profile photo Arpitha Gupta P V
      Arpitha Gupta P V
      Blog Post Author

      Thank you Partha Chinta  !!

      Author's profile photo Nishita Nanjappa
      Nishita Nanjappa

      Very informative document!

      Author's profile photo Arpitha Gupta P V
      Arpitha Gupta P V
      Blog Post Author

      Thank you Nishita Nanjappa !!

      Author's profile photo Avinash Palavai
      Avinash Palavai

      Hi Arpitha,

      This is an awsome article.

      Can you please let me know, can we also have ASK HR with out C4C?

       

      Thank you.

      Author's profile photo Arpitha Gupta P V
      Arpitha Gupta P V
      Blog Post Author

      Hi Avinash ,

      Thank you, Agent workspace is controlled by C4C system.

      Hence it is not possible to have ASK HR implemented without C4C.

      Author's profile photo Gowrisankar P
      Gowrisankar P

      Thanks for the Detailed Information.

      Author's profile photo Prashant P K1812
      Prashant P K1812
      Hi Arpitha.  Excellent Document and it is really helpful for the consultants.  Could you please share your kind view on the requirement gather perspective.  Is there any Workbook for this to capture the requirement ? Pls. suggest.
      Author's profile photo Arpitha Gupta P V
      Arpitha Gupta P V
      Blog Post Author

      Hi Prashant ,

      Currently, there is no workbook available for this feature.

      You can follow the same sequence as implementation handbook

      Author's profile photo Prashant P K1812
      Prashant P K1812

      Thanks Arpitha!

       

      Author's profile photo Ramy Berbary
      Ramy Berbary

      Thanks Arpitha for the detailed blog, I just have a small question concerning the extension. I added the integration token but when I press on the <link> in extensions in SF, I'm getting redirected to the SF homepage and not getting access to the extension page to add the ASK HR app. Any idea where did I go wrong?

       

      Best Regards,

       

      Ramy Berbary

      Author's profile photo Arpitha Gupta P V
      Arpitha Gupta P V
      Blog Post Author

      Hi Ramy,

      You might not have permissions to SCP system that is the reason you are directed to Homepage.

      Kindly try granting permissions as per KBA

      How to Grant HANA Cloud Platform(HCP/SCP) Access to SAP Product Support for ASK HR Application?

      Author's profile photo Pawel Grunholz
      Pawel Grunholz

       

      Hello,

      This article is very helpful but i have a question regarding to step 6  (extensions directory). Do you have any ideas or experience with SAPUI5 issue?

      When i want to publish and open the app

      It says:

      App could not be opened because the SAP UI5 component of the application could not be loaded.

      see in attach. Appreciate any help

      best regards

      Pawel

       

      Author's profile photo Arpitha Gupta P V
      Arpitha Gupta P V
      Blog Post Author

      Hi Pawel Grunholz  ,

      There might be issue with Apps & Pages config and also check If integration between SF & SCP system is actively enabled.

      Thanks,

      Arpitha

      Author's profile photo Viridiana Lopez
      Viridiana Lopez

      hello, good blog! Can you create rules so that depending on the category of the ticket it is assigned to a certain agent?

      Author's profile photo Arpitha Gupta P V
      Arpitha Gupta P V
      Blog Post Author

      Viridiana Lopez : I guess so, we should check from C4C supportability for the rule configuration.

      Author's profile photo Sushil Maurya
      Sushil Maurya

      Hi Viridiana,

       

      Its possible to route ticket based on category, sub-category and custom fields if needed. Under Service & Social workcenter select "Ticket Routing Rule by Employee"

      Author's profile photo Nadina Bodi Alcover
      Nadina Bodi Alcover

      Hi Sushil Maurya,

      Can you share an example rule to do that?

      Thanks,

      Regards,

      Author's profile photo Sudesh Sagar
      Sudesh Sagar

      Hi ARPITHA GUPTA P V - Are these steps still relevant with all the latest releases in SF, SCP & ECSC? We are starting to implement for a client and hoping that this blog could be helpful.

       

      Regards,

      Sudesh

      Author's profile photo shyamsundar r
      shyamsundar r

      Hi Sudesh Sagar , Please go through this FAQ before starting the project. This will save you a lot of time.

      Author's profile photo Sudesh Sagar
      Sudesh Sagar

      Thanks shyamsundar r. I will bookmark this.

      Author's profile photo shyamsundar r
      shyamsundar r

      Hi Sudesh Sagar , Quick question for you. What is the effort estimate you have planned for implementing EC SC(ASK HR) with KB in SAP Jam?

      Author's profile photo Sushil Maurya
      Sushil Maurya

      Hi Shyamsundar,

       

      It hardly takes 1 hour that also I am saying maximum.

      Author's profile photo shyamsundar r
      shyamsundar r

      Hi ARPITHA GUPTA P V , Is there a possibility to have "Virtual Agent" in the Contact HR section? I mean, can a live person (HR agent) be able to chat with the end-user from the Ask HR application?

       

      Author's profile photo Arpitha Gupta P V
      Arpitha Gupta P V
      Blog Post Author

      Hi shyamsundar r : Chat bold is not supported for ASK HR application.

       

      Author's profile photo shyamsundar r
      shyamsundar r

      Thank you Arpitha. One more doubt. Can we house this application in Workzone for HR?

      Author's profile photo Arpitha Gupta P V
      Arpitha Gupta P V
      Blog Post Author

      Hi shyamsundar r  : Currently, integration with SAP  workzone is not supported. Would suggest you to raise an enhancement request via the customer community portal.

      Author's profile photo Sujata Patil
      Sujata Patil

      Hi

      My client wants to implement EC service center and Ask HR functionality. Should I follow all the above steps or anything else is required?

      Regards,

      Sujata

      Author's profile photo Arpitha Gupta P V
      Arpitha Gupta P V
      Blog Post Author

      Hi Sujata Patil ,

      Yes, you need to follow all the above steps and additional steps mentioned in Implementation Guide.

      Thanks,

      Arpitha

      Author's profile photo Muhammad Wazir Ali
      Muhammad Wazir Ali

      Hello ARPITHA GUPTA P V can you please shared the implementation guide for this

       

      and second i have one question in the top there are two things to do

       

      1. Integrating SAP SuccessFactors and SAP Cloud Portal for ASK HR application

      2. Integrating SAP Cloud for Service for ASK HR application (this involved business users )

       

      these both have to be followed or just can do with step 1 your kind help required for this and specially what account do i need to have from my client can you please specify that accounts

      Author's profile photo Ajinkya Mahajan
      Ajinkya Mahajan

      Hi ARPITHA GUPTA P V ,

      Thanks for writing the detailed blog.

      Do we get to use the 'approval' and 'workflow' capabilities of C4C in ECSC also?

      I couldn't find any specific reference for this. Perhaps, you could help.

      Regards,

      Ajinkya

      Author's profile photo Arpitha Gupta P V
      Arpitha Gupta P V
      Blog Post Author

      Hi Ajinkya Mahajan ,

      No, you will not able to use workflow feature for ECSC.

      Thanks,

      Arpitha

      Author's profile photo Maaz Moiz
      Maaz Moiz

      Hello ARPITHA GUPTA P V ,

       

      If someone wants their interactions to be recorded for third party intervention for any issue. Though I am aware of email interaction where external mail id can be tagged but that won't include past communications or the chat history. Please let me know if I am missing something or there is any solution for this?

      Thanks

      Author's profile photo Shankar Sasikumar
      Shankar Sasikumar

      Hi ARPITHA GUPTA P V

      Please let us know if SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central Service Center can be offered to customer having SAP ERP (On Premise) as HRIS? without EC?

       

       

      Author's profile photo Arpitha Gupta P V
      Arpitha Gupta P V
      Blog Post Author

      Hi Shankar Sasikumar ,

      ECSC can implemented only on SuccessFactors Employee Central system.

      Thanks,

      Arpitha

      Author's profile photo Nilabja roychowdhury
      Nilabja roychowdhury

      Hi,

       

      Can you please help to understand ticket assignment process in ECSC? I mean employee tickets are assigned to role or person?

      Thanks

      Author's profile photo Sathish Ganesan
      Sathish Ganesan

      Tickets can be routed to either Team or a User using ticket routing rules.

      Author's profile photo Andrew Smith
      Andrew Smith

      The legacy ticketing widget service is being discontinued shortly.  Apart from implementing ECSC, what other ways can we implement a ticketing solution going forward?

      Author's profile photo Arpitha Gupta P V
      Arpitha Gupta P V
      Blog Post Author

      Please check with SAP Sales team

      Author's profile photo Arnaud Ladrille
      Arnaud Ladrille

      Hello,

      Thanks for the detailed blog.

      Regarding the knowledge base integration, Sharepoint / Teams can be integrated as Knowledge based ? I don't find the information anywhere..

       

      Thanks,
      Arnaud

      Author's profile photo Arpitha Gupta P V
      Arpitha Gupta P V
      Blog Post Author

      No, you will not be able to integrate Sharepoint/Teams for Knowledge Base. Only Mindtouch and SAP JAM is supported.

      Author's profile photo Attila Valyi-Nagy
      Attila Valyi-Nagy

      Hi ARPITHA GUPTA P V,

      Thanks for the useful blog post!

      I would like to ask is it possible to create custom UI Theme for the AskHR different from the SuccessFactors UI Theme, if yes, how can we?

      Thank you in advance!

      Attila

      Author's profile photo Arpitha Gupta P V
      Arpitha Gupta P V
      Blog Post Author

      Hi Attila,

      No, it's not possible to use a custom UI theme only specific to ASK HR. As the theme remains the same for SF& ASK HR.

      Thanks,

      Arpitha

       

      Author's profile photo Dren Sopa
      Dren Sopa

      Hi - we're really struggling to find proper documentation for the ECSC AskHR module -  some real basic things that we'd like to change like email notification templates, its impossible to find any guides out there.. hope you can help

       

      Thanks in advance!

      Dren

      Author's profile photo Arpitha Gupta P V
      Arpitha Gupta P V
      Blog Post Author

      Hi Dren ,

      Looks like you can change the e-mail notification template. Please check with SAP C4C team for the possibility.

      Thanks,

      Arpitha

      Author's profile photo Dawn Rose
      Dawn Rose

      Arpitha - Does the EC Service Center work on/with the NS2 platform?  If so, do you have any implementation information?  Thank you!

      Author's profile photo Arpitha Gupta P V
      Arpitha Gupta P V
      Blog Post Author

      Hi Dawn Rose ,

      ESCS does not work with  NS2 platform.

      Thanks,

      Arpitha

      Author's profile photo Arpan Routh
      Arpan Routh

      Great Blog! All relevant information are consolidated in one place. Thank you very much!

      Author's profile photo Dren Sopa
      Dren Sopa

      Hi Arpitha - thanks for the detailed blog post, truly appreciated!!

       

      Do you know if there's a way to configure the Ticket title to be editable by Agent? A lot of times end-users name the ticket something that's not helpful and it takes extra work to read through description for our triage team to determine who to send the ticket to, and then that Agent complains how the ticket title is not helpful..

      Author's profile photo Arpitha Gupta P V
      Arpitha Gupta P V
      Blog Post Author

      Hi Dren,

      I guess it's editable from C4C system, such that Agent can edit the ticket title accordingly.

      Thanks,

      Arpitha

      Author's profile photo Dren Sopa
      Dren Sopa

      Thanks Arpitha - any chance you can show me where in C4C is it editable? Is it on config/Admin side? Basically I want to enable it to be editable for agents

      SAP Support pretty much told me its a standard behavior that once the Ticket is created and saved, the Subject/Title cannot be edited anymore.

      Author's profile photo Arpitha Gupta P V
      Arpitha Gupta P V
      Blog Post Author

      Hi Dren,

      I confirm that title of the ticket is not editable from C4C system as well. I suggest you to raise an enhancement request via the customer community portal.

      Author's profile photo Nick Yang
      Nick Yang

      Hi Arpitha,

      Firstly, I wanted to say thanks for this blog! Even though it's now 2023, it's still proving to be super helpful.

      I have a question regarding setting up AskHR for production purposes. When I set it up in BTP for our test environment, everything worked like a charm. However, when I set up a new BTP subaccount for production, I noticed that "Cloud Portal Service" is missing from the subaccount services list.

      After doing some research, I came across note 3152968 - Applications missing from BTP cockpit, which appears to describe the same issue. As the resolution suggests, it seems that Cloud Portal Service is a default application to the subaccount.

      So, I was just wondering: are AskHR preview and prod designed to run under the same BTP subaccount by default? So, both share same "Cloud Portal Service" application.

      Thanks so much for your help!

      Nick

      Author's profile photo Arpitha Gupta P V
      Arpitha Gupta P V
      Blog Post Author

      Hi Nick,

      Thank you very much !!

      Please be informed that you cannot map the preview and prod system to the same sub-account as it requires 1: 1 mapping even though they share the same CPS application.

      Thanks,

      Arpitha

      Author's profile photo Nick Yang
      Nick Yang

      Hi Arpitha,

      When I create first subaccount for AskHR preview app, Cloud Portal Service is by default in the subaccount but this is not the same case in prod subaccount.

      Does this mean the AskHR production tenant will use the CPS from the test subaccount, or do we need to subscribe to an additional CPS for the prod subaccount?

      Thanks!

      Nick